UEL post doctoral research to explore foot structure in obese children

by cknight2014 on Tuesday 29 April, 2014

Professor Drechsler and Dr Morrison in the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience have been awarded three year funding from The W. M. Scholl Scientific Fund to support former PhD student Ryan Mahaffey – ‘Foot structure, gait, physical activity and muscle strength in obese children: Further steps towards evidence informed care.’

Previous UEL laboratory research has shown that pre-adolescent overweight and obese children have altered walking patterns when compared to their age-matched healthy weight peers.

Building on existing UEL research in obese children, the proposed work aims to identify gait characteristics, foot structure, physical activity and muscle strength related to body fat in pre-adolescent children.

To enable translation of these findings into clinical practice, the researchers will also validate a robust package of clinical measures that will inform clinical assessment paradigms. The research aims to inform current care for children with obesity and provide clinicians with validated tools to inform clinical practice.